


Stray

by Donda



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Animal Shelter, Dog!Max, Gen, stray dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:35:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 8,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23635438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donda/pseuds/Donda
Summary: Max IS the dog. (Take two, because I didn’t like my last attempt)Basically, Max is a stray and Furiosa takes him inThat’s how the movie went, right?
Relationships: Furiosa & Max Rockatansky
Comments: 87
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Your daily dose of fluff. The chapters are going to be pretty short, but I’ll be posting one a day until it's complete. Hopefully it can bring some cheer to people right now.
> 
> Here’s basically what Max looks like in my mind, for those who are curious:  
> 

Furiosa takes a sip of her coffee and watches through her window as the local stray dog trots out of her yard. This is the third time she’s seen him walk that direction first thing in the morning, and suspects he’s been sleeping under her back porch. She kept meaning to fix that hole in the lattice under the porch, but now she’d just feel bad about blocking the dog out of his shelter. She doesn’t mind him being around, and doesn’t think he has anywhere else to go, despite the fact that he has a collar. He’s filthy and skittish and always out and about, and if somebody does own him, they’re being damn irresponsible. Furiosa has seen enough of her neighbors shooing him away that she doubts he even goes into some of their yards anymore. At this point she’s just taken pity on him.

One of her neighbors had mentioned calling the RSPCA about him, and they had sent a couple people out, but he’s quick and wary, and apparently they still haven’t managed to catch him yet.

When she sees him come back that evening, she goes to her back door and peeks out, but she’s lost sight of him already. It strengthens her suspicions. He must have gone under the porch.

She wonders what his story is. He only showed up a couple weeks ago, and the collar makes her curious. Clearly he at least used to be owned by someone. Did he run away? Get lost? Are they looking for him?

First thing the next morning, she goes out to the side of her porch and sits down a short distance from the hole in the lattice, hoping to catch him before he disappears for the day. When he does finally come out, he stops short upon seeing her, and looks at her warily.

Furiosa tries for a gentle, friendly tone. “Hey, bud, what’s your name? Come here,” She reaches out to him slowly, trying to entice him to her. “Can I see your tags?”

The dog is tense, and she pulls her hand away when she catches a quiet growl from him. A second later, he bolts, and Furiosa sighs as she watches him disappear around her fence. Having gotten a closer look at him, he’s in pretty sorry shape, and is definitely skinnier than he should be.

She goes out that afternoon and buys a bag of dog food.


	2. Chapter 2

Max rather likes the house with the porch, in no small part because the person who lives there leaves him alone, but now he’s not sure. She’s taken an interest in him, and he doesn’t trust her. He thought he had finally found an okay place. He had shelter he wasn’t being chased away from, and there were a couple houses down the street that put food out for their cats, and if he was careful, he could sneak in and scarf it before they noticed.

He thinks about moving on, finding another neighborhood somewhere else where he might find another safe place, but he doesn’t quite want to give up this place so soon. Food is still hard to come by, but it’s at least more plentiful here than in other places he’s been.

He decides he’ll give it another chance or two. If the person at that house is really insistent on pestering him, he’ll move on. If she leaves him alone, though, maybe he’ll stay for a while.

He returns that evening as it’s starting to get dark, but stops before going under the porch. Right next to the hole is a bowl that was definitely not there before, and it’s filled with a heap of kibble. Max takes one sniff to determine that it’s good, and doesn’t ask any questions. He’s always hungry, and this is a bigger meal than he’s gotten in weeks.

When he’s licked the last crumbs out of the bottom of the bowl, he takes a quick, wary look around, and then slinks into the hole under the porch.

It’s a nice night, sleeping on a full stomach for once.

In the morning, he wakes to the sound of kibble pouring into a bowl, and for a moment in his grogginess, he’s back at home, back when he still had his own people who loved him and fed him every day. He pops his head up and looks around him, but only sees dirt and spider webs, and he sinks a little. Still, that sound is enticing, and he gets up and cautiously pokes his head out.

The bowl is still right next to the entrance, but this time the woman is sitting a little ways away again. She’s not close enough that he feels too unsafe, but he doesn’t really like that she’s there.

But also, there’s food.

He keeps one eye on her as he wolfs down the food in large bites. She sits quietly, and makes no move toward him. When he finishes and looks up, she reaches toward him again, and he tenses, a soft growl rising in his throat. There’s a good smell, though, and he notices as her hand uncurls that there’s a piece of meat in it.

She says something in the same tone as last time, and lowers her hand a bit, and Max quiets his growl and sniffs at the tempting smell. He takes a cautious step forward, his mouth watering, but he’s still nervous. She’s up to something. Humans don’t just give out food to dogs like him for no reason. He wishes he could eat that thing, but he turns and quickly slinks away instead.


	3. Chapter 3

Furiosa sighs and pops the slice of fresh roast beef into her mouth. He’ll take some work, apparently.

He’s a good looking dog, underneath the grime and wear of life on the street. He’s got bright eyes with a certain intelligence behind them. She always appreciated the smarter dogs. It’s a shame for him to be a stray. She’d really like to try to get him back with his people, if she can get him close enough to read his tags.

She shuffles back inside and gets ready for work.

When she comes home that evening, she goes out with a cup of kibble, figuring the least she can do is keep him fed, and maybe he’ll warm up to her. On second thought, though, she moves the bowl about a foot closer to the stairs before she pours the food in it and goes back inside.

Over the next several days, she gets into a routine of giving him a bit of food in the morning and a bit of food at night. Sometimes she tries to sit out and coax him to her, but he’s still wary and will still growl at her on occasion, so most of the time she leaves him alone. Every day, though, she moves the bowl just a little bit closer to the stairs.

Eventually she stops sitting on the ground near the hole, and instead just sits back on the steps of her porch after she puts out the food. He doesn’t seem to mind that as much, and even as she gradually gets the bowl closer and closer, that doesn’t seem to change. He always keeps an eye on her as he devours every bit she gave him, but he’s seeming to relax a little.

She’ll get him to trust her, she’s sure of it.


	4. Chapter 4

Max had decided to stay, for now. The person here feeds him twice a day now, and always puts the food out near the times when he comes and goes, so he knows he doesn’t have to worry about guarding the bowl to make sure nothing else comes to steal his food. Eventually he comes to expect it, and makes sure he always waits in the morning before he leaves, and he comes back every night before it gets too late.

He didn’t notice at first that the bowl was gradually moving, until one day when she was sitting on the steps as he ate and he realized he wasn’t close enough to the hole under the porch to dart in there in a second. Still, he was pretty sure he could get there before she could grab him, if that were something she tried, so he didn’t worry about it too much.

One morning he wakes up and steps out to find the bowl sitting on the lowest step up to the porch, and he hesitates. She’s sitting on the stairs like she often does, but this feels too close. The bowl was right next to the stairs yesterday, and he hadn’t really liked that because he couldn’t see her as he ate. But even then, she made no move to grab him.

He steps up cautiously, and keeps his eyes on her as he eats. When he’s nearly done, she starts reaching out to him slowly, and he eats faster to try to finish what’s left and get out of here before she tries to grab him, but then he notices what’s in her hand. He snarfs the last couple bites in the bowl and lifts his nose to sniff.

It’s meat, and it smells amazing.

She finishes extending her arm, putting the morsel within his reach, but not too close. He watches for a minute, hoping she’s going to drop it in the bowl, but she doesn’t. Hesitantly he stretches forward. She doesn’t move. He snatches the slice of meat out of her hand, and runs for it.


	5. Chapter 5

Furiosa smiles as the dog disappears. That was a good step, at least. She goes back inside and finishes getting ready for work.

That evening, she moves the bowl up to the next higher step, dumps some food in, and decides to give him some more space. She moves back and sits on the chair near the back of the porch.

She waits.

And waits.

He doesn’t come back. She even leaves for a while, comes back later with a book to keep her occupied for a bit, but the bowl is still full. She hasn’t seen him even approach.

She leaves the bowl out a while longer, but eventually takes it in so as not to attract other animals to her yard.

In the morning she puts it out again, back closer to the hole, but he never emerges. Her heart sinks. Something happened. Hopefully she didn’t just scare him away, but even that might be a better alternative to what else could have happened.

When he doesn’t come back that evening, either, she calls her local animal shelter as soon as they open the next morning. Maybe he ended up there. Maybe he got returned to his owner. Either way, she’d kind of like to know. Honestly she was getting a little attached.

“Hi,” she says when her call is finally answered. “I just wanted to know if a specific dog got brought in the other day.”

“Sure,” the cheery woman on the other end of the line replies. “Do you have any details?”

“Medium sized, male, kind of chocolate brown, tan on his face, chest and legs,” Furiosa recounts. “Brown collar.”

“Let’s see… Oh! Yes. The rangers brought him in a couple days ago. Is he yours? We haven’t been able to get ahold of you. Can you confirm some of the information on his tags for me?”

“Er,” Furiosa starts. “No, he’s not mine, he’s just been hanging out around my house for a while.”

“Oh,” the woman responds, sounding a little bit disappointed. “Well, he’s safe and sound here. We’re trying to get ahold of his owner, but no luck yet.”

“Okay, thank you,” Furiosa says, relieved that at least he hadn’t gotten hit by a car or something. A split second before she hangs up, though, she backtracks. “Wait.”

“Hmm?”

“If you don’t find his owner, what happens?”

“We hold all lost animals for 14 days, and if they can’t be reunited, they’re put up for adoption.”

Furiosa gets up to look at the calendar on her wall. “So, what would that be?” She goes back a couple days and traces down two weeks. “The 23rd?”

“Yeah, that looks about right. That’ll be his first day up for adoption if his owner can’t be located.”

Furiosa smiles a little. “Guess I’ll check back on the 23rd.”


	6. Chapter 6

Max sighs and flops on his side.

This is exactly why he doesn’t trust people he doesn’t know. The ones with the poles and the cages finally managed to corner him and catch him. They dragged him into their truck and drove away, and now he’s here, and he kind of hates it.

The people are nice enough, at least. They give him toys and plenty of food, and a warm bed to sleep on, but it’s still not really a fun place. He prefers being on his own, free to roam and run, even if it means he doesn’t get as much food. Except that finally, he _had_ been getting enough food, thanks to the lady who let him live under her porch.

He doesn’t expect he’ll be seeing her again.

The days pass slowly. There are a lot of other dogs here, and most of them sound about as unhappy about it as he. Some are desperate enough to jump and wag their tail for every person who so much as looks at them. Some just bark constantly. A few he sees seem quiet, resigned to their fates.

He watches people walk back and forth through the hallway in front of his kennel, looking at the other dogs, sometimes taking them out and playing with them, but nobody gives him more than a glance. He wonders if he’s going to be stuck here forever.

They put treats in one of the toys they’ve given him, but usually only once a day, and after the first couple days, he’s figured the trick out well enough that he can get the treat out in minutes, and then he’s left to boredom and monotony. Some of the people who seem to be here every day try to interact with him, but he slinks to the back of his kennel and tries to keep his distance. He used to trust people, back when he had ones that loved and cared for him. But they’re gone now, and he couldn’t find them, and after that it seemed like love became unreal.

Well, if this is his home now, then he guesses he might as well get used to it. Not a lot he can do about it anyway. He stares up at the kennel door and waits.


	7. Chapter 7

“I didn’t know you had a dog.”

Furiosa turns curiously at Toast’s words as she puts down her bag. She follows Toast’s gaze over to the half-empty bag of dog food leaning against the wall by the back door.

“Oh, I don’t. I was feeding a stray for a while.”

Toast huffs a little laugh. “Seriously?”

Furiosa shrugs. “The rangers couldn’t catch him, and he looked pretty bad.”

“What happened to him?”

“They did finally get him, I guess. He’s at the shelter.”

“Oh. That’s good. Hopefully someone will adopt him,” Toast says politely before changing the subject to the matter at hand: options for tonight’s movie night.

Furiosa doesn’t say anything in response to Toast’s first comment. Apparently Furiosa will be the one adopting him, if that turns out to be an option. She had kind of surprised herself when she had been talking to the person at the animal shelter last week. Getting a dog hadn’t really been her plan any time soon, but she had spent the better part of two weeks slowly getting to know this one, and she felt a bit sorry for him. If he’s still as skittish as he was before the rangers caught him, she can’t imagine a lot of people are going to be jumping at the chance to adopt him.

And now here she is, with _call shelter_ scribbled in on the 23rd of this month, and she intends to do just that.

As the day has been drawing nearer, she’s actually been kind of hoping his owner can’t be found. She tries not to think that way, keeps telling herself that the dog will probably be better off if he gets back to the person he knows, but she’s actually gotten herself a little eager at the prospect of having a dog around. The companionship wouldn’t go amiss, and after a bit of searching around on dog breeds, she’s pretty sure he’s an Australian Kelpie, or at least mostly so. If ever she were to specifically pick a dog, a medium-sized working dog sounds just about right. Intelligent, trainable, high enough energy to keep up with her, and easy enough to manage, size-wise.

She’s actually found herself poking around at listings on pet supply sites, deciding what kinds of toys she’d get, among other supplies she’d need. She even found herself wandering into a pet store while doing errands the other day. But she won’t let herself buy anything yet. Not when she doesn’t even know if she’ll be able to adopt him.

“Hey, are you paying attention?”

Furiosa snaps back to the present. “Yeah, sorry. Which movie did you just say?”

Toast laughs. “Yeah, you’re not paying attention.”


	8. Chapter 8

Max wishes he could go outside.

He’s seen some of the other dogs get taken out and come back later panting and happy, sometimes with a ball in their mouth. But they don’t take him out much, except for some short walks around on a leash.

To be fair, if they did, he’d probably spend his time outside looking for escape, and he’s not sure if letting them catch him afterward would really be on his agenda. He thinks about maybe reforming his wary attitude toward the people who work here, if only to get himself outside in that yard on more than just a leash.

He dreams of running. He dreams of being outside, unbounded again, and just running to his heart’s content. But sometimes he dreams of a home, of shelter over his head that’s more than just the boards of a porch. He dreams of food that is his and always his, that he doesn’t have to worry about if it’ll come or not. It feels weird to dream of walks on a leash when he had been roaming free for so long, but there’s a certain charm to that as well. The comfort of a familiar human. The comfort of trust, and love.

He actually misses that sometimes. But he doesn’t expect he’ll ever find it again.

He watches from the very back of his kennel as one of the shelter staff walks in, puts down his food bowl for him, and stuffs his usual treat into the toy that no longer holds the fun and mystery it had before he figured out how to get the treat out easily. She crouches, smiles at him, and says his name. Max perks his ears up, but doesn’t go near her. He doesn’t know how they know his name here, but that’s exactly what his people used to call him, and at least the familiarity of it is comforting.

After a minute the smile on her face fades, and with a little sigh and a second, sadder smile, she stands up and leaves, closing the door behind her. Only when she’s gone and he’s sure she’s not coming back in does Max move forward and scarf down the food she gave him. When that’s gone, he sets to work on the treat toy, has it out in a matter of minutes, and eats that as well, then goes back to lie down and wait some more.


	9. Chapter 9

“According to his tags, his name is Max,” the shelter employee tells her as he leads her back to the dog adoption area. “He does respond to it, a little bit.”

The 23rd had finally come around, and Furiosa’s long-awaited call to the shelter revealed that the dog’s owner could not be located, and he was officially up for adoption. She had put him on hold until she could get there, and had gone out to the pet store on her way to the shelter. Luckily she had spent enough time looking at pet items online that she knew exactly what she wanted by now, and it wasn’t long before she was parking in the shelter’s parking lot and heading in with a brand new leash and harness coiled in her hand.

“No idea what happened to his old owner?” She asks as they walk.

The man shakes his head. “The phone number on his tag was disconnected, and the people at the address had only been living there a little while and didn’t know anything about him. He doesn’t have a chip, either.”

Furiosa gives an acknowledging hum and a nod. Well, it’s sad, but it worked out well enough for her. And hopefully, for Max.

“He’s pretty shy,” the man continues as he opens a door into a long hallway lined with cages of barking dogs. “In fact, we have a hard time getting near him at all. Are you sure about him?”

Honestly, it is a little nerve-wracking to commit to adopting a dog that may never grow to like her. Or even tolerate her. For all she knows, he’s going to end up back under her porch and roaming free again, with her struggling to get him near with promises of food. The only difference would be he’d now have a new collar with _her_ number and address on it, and a chip with the same information.

But, she figures, if she keeps him inside for now, makes sure he only goes out on a leash, hopefully he can get used to her.

“Well,” she responds. “I guess we’ll see.” She’s up for a challenge.


	10. Chapter 10

Max jumps awake as he hears his door unlatch, and he gets to his feet and backs up into the back of his kennel. He rotates his ears back nervously. The person who is opening it is the one who brought him his food a couple days ago, but instead of coming in, he steps back and motions into the cage with his hand.

The person who does step into his kennel makes his ears shoot forward again, perking up in recognition. It’s the lady with the porch and the food. How did she find him? Why is she here?

She crouches down and reaches a hand out to him gently. “Hey, Max.”

Max’s ears perk up farther at the sound of his name. He takes a step forward and sniffs her hand cautiously, giving his tail a little wag.

Honestly, of all the people who could have come here, he thinks he likes this one the best. Is she going to take him back? He really liked her porch, and he realizes he kind of likes her, too, but mostly because she gave him food when he had been going hungry for so long.

All things considered, that’s not a bad reason to like a person, he decides.

She says something he doesn’t understand and scoots a little closer, and he rotates his ears back down, but doesn’t back away from her.

He notices as she reaches into a bag at her side and pulls out a little packet of something, that one of her arms isn’t really an arm, in the normal sense. It sort of looks like one, and sort of acts like one, but it doesn’t smell like one. He had only ever seen her before missing that part of her arm completely. His ears go a little farther back as she puts something good smelling from the packet into that hand and reaches toward him carefully. He doesn’t know how he feels about that arm, but he does know exactly how he feels about the treats, so he pushes back his nervousness and goes for them, slurping them up eagerly.

He likes them, and gives another wag of his tail, and is rewarded by another small handful of treats.

She says something again and moves toward him a little more, and Max stays where he is. He doesn’t figure anything worse than the situation he’s in right now can come of letting her near him. Maybe it’ll lead to something better. He doesn’t know, but he’s willing to find out.


	11. Chapter 11

The dog - Max, she reminds herself - still seems a bit nervous, but actually stands still and lets her pet him briefly, then put on the harness she bought for him. That’s certainly a big change from the elusive, growling dog she had been gradually coaxing closer over the span of a couple weeks. She smiles and gives him another handful of treats as a reward, and his tail is wagging fully when she stands up with the leash in hand. She supposes a couple weeks stuck in here was a bit of an eye-opener for him. Or maybe he had already been coming to like her, in his own way.

He follows her willingly enough out of the kennel, and she smiles at the bemused look on the shelter employee’s face.

“I haven’t seen him wag his tail once since he got here.” He looks up at her and gives her a quirky little smile. “Seems like a good match! Do you want to take him to a meeting room and interact with him a little more first?”

Furiosa shakes her head. “I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t do anything other than sit on the far side of the room from me. But it’s fine, he was living in my yard before he got picked up. I think we’re starting to build a good rapport.”

The employee crouches down to address Max. “What do you think, Max? Are you ready for a new home?”

Max puts his ears back and slinks away from the man, hiding behind Furiosa’s legs.

He stands up again. “Well, at least he likes you.” He turns and starts leading her back to the entrance. “Honestly I was worried he’d never get a home, with the way he acts. Dogs like him tend to stick around here for a while, since the friendlier ones always get adopted first.”

She leads Max out to the lobby where he waits patiently as she fills out the packet of adoption paperwork. She glances at him every once in a while. He still seems a bit tense, and he’s looking at everyone that moves warily, but he’s not trying to bolt.

He hesitates when they get to her car, as if debating whether the joy of a car ride is worth actually getting into a stranger’s car, but with a bit of encouragement, he jumps in, and she ties his leash to one of the seatbelt buckles. She intends to give him an open window and wouldn’t really put it past him to try to take a leap out of said window.

He paces back and forth across the back seat until she gets behind the wheel and opens a window for him, and he immediately sticks his head out. Furiosa smiles as he looks around, panting. She might even say that he looks happy.


	12. Chapter 12

Max had almost forgotten how much he likes car rides; the wind in his face, the smells, the sights. It’s actually pretty exciting. His tail starts wagging as the familiar scents of the neighborhood he had been living in reach him and he starts recognizing a few landmarks here and there. So she his taking him back. He looks forward to life going back to normal, to getting to roam again instead of being stuck in that kennel all the time.

She stops the car at her house, and Max ducks back inside the car as she slowly closes the window. He wags his tail as he waits for her to let him out. When she opens the door and unties his leash, though, she doesn’t let him go. She walks him instead up to the front door, and Max hesitates as she tries to lead him inside. This wasn’t what he was expecting. He thought she was going to let him go.

He looks up at her as she stops inside the door, pulling lightly at his leash.

“Come,” she says, and Max puts his ears down a little bit. He remembers what that word means, and he doesn’t really want to go inside, but he does.

“Good boy,” she says next, and after she has closed the door behind him, she reaches toward him slowly, and unhooks the leash from his harness. Max looks up at her, unsure.

She gives him a soft smile, and says a few words that he doesn’t know, then motions with her hand into the house. Max looks at the room, looks at her, looks at the room again, and then starts cautiously forward.

He sniffs things as he passes them: a chair, the trash, a big bag that is definitely full of dog food.

The woman says something that sounds less like encouragement and more like a gentle warning, and he leaves the bag alone and glances over at her. She’s pointing across the room, and he follows her point to his food bowl, now sitting at the edge of the kitchen instead of next to the porch. There’s already kibble in it, and Max trots over to eat it.

When the bowl is empty and he’s licked it clean, he glances up at the rustling sound she is making, and sees her unbagging things on the counter and fiddling with them. Some look like toys, some look like treat bags, some he’s not really sure what they are, but also doesn’t particularly care because the toys and treats definitely have his attention.

After a moment she approaches him with two things in her hands, and Max backs up, still habitually wary. She stops, crouches down where she is, and holds the two objects out to him. One is a big, red, rubber toy, the kind he knows you can fit food inside, and the other is fuzzy and kind of looks like a dead animal. Max looks at her from where he’s standing, but doesn’t approach.

After a minute, she says something softly, puts the toys on the floor, and moves back. Cautiously, Max approaches them, sniffs each, and upon determining that there isn’t a treat in the rubber one, he grabs the fuzzy one and trots away with it. It squeaks in his mouth, and his tail wags on its own.


	13. Chapter 13

Furiosa gives a smile as Max picks up the stuffed toy and runs off with it, but it still feels a little sad. He doesn’t seem entirely freaked out by being here, but he still doesn’t completely trust her. She watches him disappear beside the couch, and then the toy squeaks a few more times, and her smile grows. She goes back to the counter and finishes unpacking the things she got him.

She got one of each general style of toy, figuring she’ll learn which ones he actually likes, and buy more of those as needed. For now she’s got a durable rubber toy, a stuffed toy, a rubber squeaky toy, a couple types of edible chews, a ball, and a rope toy. Hopefully that’ll keep him occupied for a while.

She puts each out in various places around the house, watching him look at her with his usual wariness as she does, but he doesn’t get up and slink elsewhere, at least.

A while later, she notices him sitting at the back door, staring out into the yard seemingly longingly.

“Do you want to go outside?” She picks up the leash by the front door and approaches him with it, but he just slinks away. She sighs and puts the leash back. She hopes she’ll be able to catch him and get the leash on him in order to let him relieve himself later, because she’s definitely not going to just open the door and expect him to come back.

The next time she goes and checks on him, he’s found a different window to stare out, and she sighs quietly again. She can’t just let him go back to living like a stray. He’s going to have to get used to life indoors for a little while.

He doesn’t really come near her the rest of the day. It’s as she’s cooking dinner, though, that she hears the click of his nails on the wooden floor behind her, and she turns to see him sitting at the edge of the kitchen, looking at her curiously. She smiles a little. “It’s always about food with you, isn’t it?”

His ears perk up at the word _food_ , and her smiles grows. Normally, she’d avoid feeding a dog table scraps, especially right in the kitchen. That’s the way to a spoiled, badly-trained dog, she believes. Given the current circumstances, though, she’ll take any opportunity she can get to get him to trust her. She cuts off a small slice of the chicken she had finished cooking and set aside, and crouches down, holding it out to him. “You’ve got to come get it if you want it,” she tells him.


	14. Chapter 14

Max inches forward slowly, still keeping a wary eye on her, but she stays still, making no threatening moves. As he reaches her, she lays her hand out flatter, the piece of food lying on it, and he scarfs it down in a single bite and swallow. His tail wags a bit.

“Good boy,” she praises, and his tail wags again. She reaches out toward him gently, and Max puts his ears down a little. She wants to pet him, it seems, and he still doesn’t know her well enough to be completely comfortable with her, but she’s been nothing but nice to him so far, and he does remember he used to love getting pats. He lets her finish reaching toward him. She pets him briefly, then says something with a smile.

Max’s eyes are big and round as he watches her stand up, get another piece of food from the counter, and bend down to offer it to him. He steps forward and eats it eagerly.

She says something agin, largely lost to him, but he understands the word _food_ again, and he wags his tail hopefully.

She shakes her head, says something else, and then turns her back to him and goes back to doing things up out of his reach. Max waits a little longer, but it seems that’s all he’s going to get for now, so he eventually moves a little ways away and sits down to watch quietly.

Later that evening, she approaches him with the leash again. He’d rather be without it, but he does remember that leashes mean going outside. Also, he needs to pee, and he remembers that peeing inside houses is not okay. He doesn’t want to make her mad, so he gives a hesitant wag of his tail as she moves closer, and lets her clip the leash onto his harness.

She follows him patiently around the yard as he sniffs here and there, even after he has relieved himself. He had missed all these familiar smells. When he goes to check out the hole under the porch, though, she pulls him back.

“No, no,” she says. “Come.”

Max gives it one last glance, then turns and follows her back inside.


	15. Chapter 15

The next morning Furiosa decides to see how he’ll do with a run. She’s been trying to get up early enough to get in a quick run before showering and going to work every day, and figures a working dog is probably going to need the same. Maybe he can help be her motivation to stay on top of it.

He already seems to have figured out that the leash means he gets to go outside, and he lets her clip it onto him without a fuss. She lets him sniff around the front a bit and relieve himself, then gives him a treat and coaxes him into a run as she starts jogging down the street. He seems a bit confused at first, but then quickly falls in step beside her.

He doesn’t pull or fuss or complain, and by the time they get home again, he’s panting, but seems pretty happy. Maybe even more relaxed, she thinks as she leads him back inside. She imagines he probably had a lot of pent up energy. He goes and flops onto the dog bed she had put in the living room, and she counts that as another small victory. That’s the first time she has seen him use it. He had slept on the floor by the back door last night.

She’s taken the day off to make sure he’s still settling in okay - and, admittedly, to make sure he doesn’t have a propensity to destroy things - and also managed to get a vet appointment scheduled for him. She’s not worried anymore about being able to catch him to get a leash on him and get him there, but she doesn’t know how he’ll take actually getting to the vet’s office.

Well, it’s a bridge she’ll cross when she gets there. She goes to shower and change after her run.

When she comes down, she hears a curious crunching noise from the kitchen, and grimaces as she picks up her pace to see what he’s up to.

What she finds is the trash bin tipped over, garbage all over the floor, and Max munching happily on something in the rubble, tail wagging eagerly.

“Max!” Her voice is harsh and he instantly cringes, looking up at her with big eyes. She sighs and quiets her voice. “You couldn’t have waited another ten minutes for breakfast?” She moves forward and shoos him away, picking up the bin and trying to control its spillage as much as possible. She supposes she can’t really blame him. He had been practically starving for so long, the habit to eat anything and everything he can get is probably going to be with him for a while. And she had neglected to feed him yet this morning.

She shoos him away again as she catches him standing on the edge of the mess and grabbing whatever food scraps he can reach without getting too close, and she gets the broom and starts cleaning up. “I think you’ve had enough. You’re going to make yourself sick.”

Max sits back at the edge of the kitchen and gives her a mournful look.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may be my last regular daily update for a little while - work has been taking it out of me, I'm out of buffer chapters, and have barely been writing the last couple weeks. Also this got away from me and turned out longer than I planned XD As usual


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi I'm sorry I basically forgot about this... Going to try to finish it up, I promise!

Max had realized what he had done was wrong when she came down and said his name in that tone. Actually, he had known it probably wasn’t a good thing to do when he started doing it, but his bowl had been conspicuously empty, and the smell from the trash was far too tempting. Honestly it was beyond his ability to resist.

He had found a few particularly good things in the trash. It always amazed him, the things that humans refused to eat sometimes.

She keeps talking to him as she cleans up the mess, taking it away bit by bit. He watches her put the trash bin up on the edge of the counter, out of his reach just like the bag of dog food, and she sets to work thoroughly cleaning the floor, getting rid of all of the good smells and filling the room with the stench of cleaning supplies. Max sits back and watches quietly, wishing he had eaten a little faster.

When she’s done, she stops in the middle of the kitchen and looks at him, her hands on her hips. Max puts his ears down and wags his tail hopefully. She shakes her head, but there’s a small smile on her face. She doesn’t look angry, and Max licks his lips and wags his tail again.

Finally she goes over to the bag of dog food on the counter and scoops some out, and Max dashes over to his bowl and waits expectantly as she comes over and dumps the food in it.

It’s gone within a minute. Max is pretty sure she wouldn’t take it away from him, but he’s learned in his time that the faster you eat, the more likely you are to get all of it.

It’s later that day that she gets out the leash again, and Max waits with a certain amount of eagerness while she clips it onto his harness. He’s getting a little tired of being stuck inside, if he’s honest, and any chance to go outside is good.

His tail wags as she takes him over to her car, and he climbs in without reservation this time and sticks his head out the window when she opens it for him. He doesn’t really think about where they might be going, but he knows he likes being in the car, and right now that’s enough for him.

It's an enjoyable ride, and then they park in a parking lot and head into the nearest building, and Max follows her cautiously. As soon as they get inside, though, his ears drop. He’s never been here, but he recognizes this kind of smell. This is a vet’s office, where they poke and prod at you, and even the biscuits they keep up on the counter don’t always make up for it.

He looks up at the woman beside him and finds her looking down at him. She gives him a little smile and says something soft and encouraging before she leads him farther in. Max puts his head down and follows.


	17. Chapter 17

She can tell that Max doesn’t like the vet’s office. He practically pouts the whole time. But he puts up with his checkup admirably, barely even flinching as they give him his set of vaccinations and a microchip loaded up with Furiosa’s information.

Furiosa is sure to mention his escapade with the trash can this morning, and the doctor takes a look and doesn’t see anything worrying right now, but gives her a list of things to look out for just in case.

Max perks up as they leave, seemingly grateful to be done with the experience, and Furiosa decides he deserves a little treat. She’d been wanting to replace the edible chews he had already devoured and get him a tag with her information on it anyway.

She heads to the pet store next, and his reaction as soon as they get inside and he realizes what kind of place this is, is a polar opposite of his reaction upon getting into the vet’s office. His ears perk up, his tail wags hopefully, and he pulls at his leash as they walk by the aisles, sniffing eagerly at the scents down each one.

She picks up a few chews that she hopes will take him a little longer to get through, then lets him pick his own chew from the shelves, giving him a chance to sniff each of them before she loosens her hold on the leash and lets him grab the one he seemed most eager about.

He carries it proudly in his mouth as she stops by the bowl aisle and picks up a slow feeder, figuring this dog could definitely stand to eat a little less desperately, then goes and grabs a collar that looks good on him. Furiosa has a little bit of a hard time getting him to give her back the chew he had chosen so she can pay for it at the checkout counter, and he gives her a pleading look until it has been scanned and she rips off the price tag and hands it back to him. Once it’s back in his mouth, though, his tail wags a bit, and he sits and waits patiently as she finishes paying.

Lastly, before they leave, she stops by the tag machine to engrave a tag for him.

She peers at the many choices of colors and shapes. “What do you think, Max? Do you want the red round one, or the black bone-shaped one?”

Max stares up at her with no hint of understanding, but a certain contentment as he continues to hold his new treat in his mouth. She gives him a little smirk, and goes with the bone-shaped one.

She glances down at him a few times as the machine engraves her text into the tag, and after a bit, he settles down on his stomach, props the chew between his front paws, and starts gnawing on it. He stops only when his new tag has dropped into the chute at the bottom of the machine, and Furiosa threads it onto a ring on the collar she had bought and crouches down to buckle it loosely around his neck.

“There you go,” she says, standing up with a smile on her face. “Now if you get out, everybody’s going to know to blame me when you get into their trash.”

Max wags his tail a bit, and she gives a quiet laugh before she leads him out of the store.


	18. Chapter 18

Max settles in more and more over the next few weeks. It’s a very different life than the one he was living on the street, and sometimes he misses the freedom of that life, but he decides in the end that this is better. She still doesn’t let him outside if he’s not on a leash, but they go for runs daily, she gives him good food twice a day, and things to chew on and keep him busy and amused while she’s gone.

He’s starting to think, with the way things have been going, that maybe she’s his new person. She takes care of him like he remembers his old people did, and gives him even more things than they used to. It’s something he hasn’t known since he ended up on the street. This is not how anybody treated him when he was just a stray.

He thinks he can be content with that. He can think of her has his person. He’s even starting to consider this place his home, not just a place he’s staying for now. It’s becoming more than just a shelter and a place where he gets food.

Eventually, she even puts an anchor in the ground in her yard with a long cable that she clips onto his harness, and she leaves him alone to do as he pleases outside sometimes. The cable is long enough to let him get underneath her porch, and he doesn’t really even mind that it doesn’t let him leave the yard. It feels good to have a place that is his. It feels good to know that he has this kind of security, and doesn’t need to worry about his next meal or where he should sleep for the night.

He forgot how nice it was to have everything he needs. He had taken it for granted for most of his life. That’s all he had known. He had shelter, he had food, and he had caring people. When everything turned on its head and his people left, he had tried to get back into his home, but it was closed and dark and empty, and no matter how long he waited, they didn’t come back.

Hunger and cold had driven him to learn quickly to survive in a new way, to fend for himself, and if he had to, to fight for what he needed. He learned to hold his own. And after a while, that simply became what he had known, and that was the way life was. He got used to it. He nearly forgot what it was like before.

But now he remembers. Now he knows what he had been missing for so long. It felt weird at first, but now it’s starting to feel right.


	19. Chapter 19

“Max, it’s fine, it’s just Capable again.” Furiosa steps up beside where he’s growling at the door and gently puts her hand around his nose. Max quiets down and looks up at her, the tension easing out of his body.

It had taken him a couple months to get this comfortable here. But once he made the steps from skittish and aloof to cautiously comfortable, it was only a few more steps before he seemed to feel like this was really his place. And once he got that far, his defensive side came out. Any potential threat to his home or Furiosa was met with distrust. Before long he was growling any time somebody rang the doorbell, and Furiosa worried it would become a problem. She quickly learned, however, that a few pats and a reassuring tone were enough to calm him down. If Furiosa herself didn’t feel threatened by the visitor, Max seemed to key into that, and he’d relax as well.

A protective nature wasn’t the only thing he showed once he fully settled in, though. It wasn’t necessarily easy for new people to gain his trust past mere tolerance, but once they did, they had his loyalty for the long-run. It took several visits from each of her friends and some encouragement on Furiosa’s part for him to warm up to them, but now he’s just as likely to bring one of them a toy to play tug-of-war with, or flop onto his back for belly rubs, as he is with her.

Furiosa opens the door for Capable and Max’s tail immediately wags.

“Hi, Max! Who’s a good boy?” Capable leans down to pat Max as he approaches her, his tail wagging harder. “Yes, you are. You’re a good boy! Hi, Furi,” she follows up with.

“Oh, I see how it is,” Furiosa responds with a little smile.

Capable laughs in return. “Sorry. But who can deny that face?” She grins down at Max as he peers up at her, wide-eyed and hopeful.

“It’s only because you keep giving him treats when you come over.”

Capable scoffs playfully. “Aw, he’s not that shallow.”

“He might be,” Furiosa teases.

“Fine, I won’t give him anything this time. You’ll see. He’ll still like me.”

Max’s tail droops almost as if he knows what they’re saying, but he still follows them eagerly back inside as they head toward the living room. Furiosa quickly sets to work tidying up the couch, tossing some of Max’s toys onto the floor and straightening up the pillows. She glances over as Capable enters the room, and Furiosa pretends not to notice the hand that slips Max a little treat.

“Up,” Furiosa says to Max as she settles down on the sofa. He jumps up onto the cushions and wags his tail as Capable sits down on his other side. Furiosa rests her arm across his back and he nestles down beside her, laying his head on her leg. She looks down at him and gives him a little smile as she turns on the TV.

She’d never wish homelessness on any animal, but the fact is that he had ended up that way, and in the end, it worked out well for both of them. Of all the places he could have gone, she’s glad he picked her porch.


End file.
